"Don Quixote had his windmills /Ponce de Leon took his cruise
Took Sinbad seven voyages /To see that it was all a ruse
(That's why I'm) Looking for the next best thing"
- Warren Zevon

Tuesday, 11 July 2006

One For Ten-Bob

Via 3 Quarks Daily comes an interesting article on Poker odds. In particular that the odds on a hand winning can reverse depending on how many players you are up against:

Which of the following has the best chance of winning against somebody else’s (unknown, obviously) cards at a showdown?

Jack-10 suited Ace-7 unsuited Pair of 6’s.

[T]he miracle is that the relative strength of the three hands reverses when we go from one opponent to four. Against one other player, the sixes stand the best chance, followed by the A7, followed by the JTs (where “s” stands for “suited”). But against four, JTs is the most likely of the three to win, while the sixes are the least.

1 comment:

There might be a game tonight. I'll let you know how I get on with my new found knowledge of probability.Seriously though - Ace unsuited with a six is pretty crap. The trick surely - along with a bit of bluffing yourself - is to work out what people have by how much they bet. If no-one raises and you have Ace six unsuited you might as well stay in for the flop. Otherwise, probably fold - unless you think they're bluffing. One of the problems is letting that Ace go! Surely an Ace is good right? Only against something lower than a King high.Ahhh! I'm getting all excited. I think the first games at 8pm.